airling

English

Etymology

From air +‎ -ling.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛə(ɹ)lɪŋ/

Noun

airling (plural airlings)

1. (archaic) A thoughtless, light-hearted person.

   Synonyms: airhead, luftmensch

   • 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     Some more there be, slight airlings, will be won
     With dogs and horses, or perhaps a whore.

   • 2011, Georgette Heyer, My Lord John, page 320:

     'Airling!' John remarked, after a glance at his brother's magnificence.

   • 2015, Sylvia Abolis Mennear, Enchanted Castle on the River: Matt's Journey:

     Thee must keep quiet and not speak to strangers, or they shalt think thee is an airling.

2. (fantasy or poetic) A creature of the air, such as a bird, fairy, etc.
   • 1855, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, The Bells: A Collection of Chimes, page 37:

     This queen immortal loved the knight, And so she sent an airling brood To lead him thro ' the bosky wood Until he knew no left nor right; And as he paused upon a steep That rose from out a fountain place, They sprinkled dew-drops on his face, And so he fell asleep.

   • 1873, "Ornithon", “Ornithology: A Plea for the Birds”, in Transactions of the Illinois State Agricultural Society, page 180:

     In the pointed bill, the gradually enlarging head and neck, we behold a ready means of penetrating the yelding air, the fine turned and prow-like breast, flexible and idispensable rudder, tail, the balanced and buoyant wings, the feathery investment of body, all permeated with air-cells, the hollow bones also, and the air chambers and air sacks through the organization, all communicating with the air, in which the airling floats, giving lightness to the structure as well as strength and tenacity, by a wise arrangement of parts, all bearing relation not only to each other, but to the surrounding medium in which the creature is to fly, a part of it itself floating in its own element, in aeriel grandeur; how could these beautiful arrangements, with these nice adaptations, with such admirable relationships, be the work of chance?

   • 2015, Noreen Arangies, Keepers of Equilibria, page 1:

     Airon, an airling, jumped high and spun quickly.

References

• “airling”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• glairin, lairing, nargili, railing